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Pack 221 to serve in the army, and there are more than 4 million slaves, not counting the free blacks, and that will be a mighty force against the North, so there’s not much chance of an end to the war any time soon. But dear parents, don’t fret and worry so much about me, because we have gotten quite used to the war, and as long as the fighting doesn’t move up here near where we are, we are not affected. There’s enough work for anyone who wants to work, and they pay good wages, too. Everything is more expensive than before, but you can still have a good life. Even though you can’t save very much at the moment, you can make a good living. America is very large, and it is growing enough so you don’t die hungry. But you don’t see any gold or silver and hardly any copper anymore, that’s all disappeared, for one dollar in gold you have to pay an extra 75 cents [8 ll.: details]. I could write more about this baneful business, but to keep this letter from getting too heavy, I will turn to our family affairs [28 ll.: brother August died of ‘‘consumption’’ in May, after a long illness]. Dear sister, you mention in your letter that you would so much like to return to America, that you can’t get it out of your head, so why don’t you see to it that you all come over together? My wife and I both wish that we were all living together and working together, and then we would certainly be able to enjoy a wonderful life, free of care3 [17 ll.: has suffered financial setbacks due to doctors’ bills for his bad hand and for August, but he can take her in if she pays for her own passage; family; his dog Prinz drowned, but Hecktor—‘‘my only joy in America’’—is well; greetings; signature]. 3. Louise had returned to Germany in 1858 because her husband was ill. After his death in 1859, she moved back to Bietigheim. 24. Barbara Pack and Nikolaus Pack When the Catholic miner Nikolaus Pack left Schiffweiler in the Saar region in 1853, he was already forty-three years old. He emigrated together with his wife and seven children, obviously hoping to earn more money in the United States. He worked in his old trade in the coal mines near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1860 he listed real estate worth $900—probably a small house. By 1870 he had moved up to a position source note: Only a transcript of this letter is available, and it seems safe to assume that Joseph Scheben, who collected and transcribed emigrant letters in the 1930s, standardized at least the spelling and punctuation. Therefore, what remains to be said of Pack’s language, for example his flowery and pungent imagery, can be gleaned from the English version as well. 222 Pack as a gardener and claimed $2,500 in property, but his children remained miners and laborers.1 Mt Oliver [Pennsylvania], October 12, 1863 Dear brother-in-law and sister-in-law, We havewaited so long towrite toyou for the following reason.Wewanted to write to you the truth about how the American war would end. But we couldn’t wait until it was over. We know the beginning, but only the Good Lord knows the future. The cause of this war is basically a nice present from Europe that the dear 48ers, those heroes of freedom who have broken with God and their respective monarchs, have brought into this beautiful country. The main cause was the excessive pride of the entire American people. The Good Lord had blessed them with an abundance of everything, food, good food and cheap besides. There were no empty stomachs, and where there are no empty stomachs , there are no cool heads. Arrogance took the upper hand in opulence and showy dress.This brothers’ war between the North and the South is a punishment from the Lord. Thousands upon thousands from our side as well as the South’s have already shed their blood, and the situation is still just the same as it was at the beginning. The Negroes are still not free and are just as black as they ever were, and the mark of Cham will not be washed from them.2 The despots in Europe are...

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